8: The Love of Work
The motives discussed thus far are "fairly adequate" for employees whose work involves accomplishing specific tasks in a pre-defined manner. For most employees, their work consists of exactly that, and the challenge of the manager is to retain their services in doing known things in a specific manner with efficiency over a longer period of time.
But it is another matter entirely to motivate those whose work is not predictable, and who are given latitude in accomplishing goals for their employer. (EN: The author considers this to be the demesne of the executive class, but in the present day it is increasingly incumbent on lower ranks to accomplish goals and solve problems rather than merely doing as they are bidden.)
Motivating an individual to accomplish an outcome, rather than merely to perform a task, is another matter altogether. His enthusiasm derives from "an instinctive love of the game" and a desire to achieve and excel in an undertaking in which there is no benchmark or standard of comparison. He must have the desire to win, and the ability to define "winning" in more abstract terms.
Scott turns again to the natural world, and watching animals frolic: a lion loves to hunt, a horse loves to run, and a squirrel loves to gather things. There is a survival reason for each of these behaviors, but a lion will chase prey even when it has no need for food, a horse will run when there is nothing to flee, and a squirrel with gather things that are entirely inedible. They perform the behaviors because it delights them to do so, and there is no other activity that is as interesting to them.
Such delight can be seen in man's leisure activities. We hunt and fish even when there are more efficient ways to obtain food. We collect things we have no need to use and no intention to sell. We compete in sport because we love to compete, not to accomplish any end necessary to our survival and prosperity.
(EN: It is noted that the industrial revolution freed men from the necessity to spend all their time pursuing the basic necessities of life and created a great deal of leisure time and excess wealth to be disposed of. And so the notion of "leisure" was likely of keen interest to writers of the time, as it was a novelty that was unheard of for most men.)
The Source of Love of the Game
For some men, their work is a source of satisfaction and delight. A man may take pleasure in making a sale or producing a product as he does in felling a deer. The monetary reward for doing so is secondary to the mere pleasure of achieving success in the activity.
This has been called "instinctive" by those who are unable to explain it, but instinct is a behavior that is performed, and most instincts are for survival reasons. A lion has an instinct to chase and kill prey because it is the means by which he survives. An artist's desire to paint a landscape is fulfilled even if no-one purchases the painting. A carpenter's desire to produce a well-made chest is likewise.
Instincts are likewise inherited. They are passed from generation to generation in part because animals that do not have survival instincts do not survive long enough to breed. But any horse breeder can attest that a horse has the instincts and mannerisms of its sire and dam - a horse of a champion bloodline is far more likely to become a champion. This is not seen in men - and in fact the children of very successful men tend most often to be quite hapless and incompetent than to be motivated and capable in the same field as their father.
As such, to classify the "love of the game" as purely instinctual is to misrepresent, ignore, and otherwise fail to understand its nature.
Love of the game is thus learned, or perhaps discovered, by some men and not by others. It is something in the experience of a man that gives him the fascination with achieving something very specific. It is not an instinct that is inherited or present at birth, but something that develops afterward.
Scott admits that he doesn't really have a handle on it, but in examining successful men, three characteristics become evident.
- Personal Involvement - To be self-directed, rather than subjugated, appeals to a man's individualistic nature and grants him a sense of empowerment and self-esteem. There are few men so miserable and craven as to place their entire satisfaction in appeasing a thankless master.
- Achieving a Worthy Goal - To benefit created by undertaking provides the very motivation to perform an action. A man must believe that his work will achieve something, and see afterward that it has achieved it. The greater the achievement, the greater the motivation.
- Social Recognition - To be valued by others for contribution to society appeals to our "selfishly social natures" in that we are granted recognition and esteem by others as a reflection of the benefit we have granted them.
First Characteristic: Personal Involvement
The first characteristic of successful men is a sense of personal involvement in their work. They feel a sense of responsibility and ownership, that their work is a creative act and an expression of themselves, and this causes them to take a personal initiative in pursuing it.
As organizations grow larger and work becomes more specialized, it is increasingly difficult for a man to recognize his personal contribution to the outcome. A tailor may take great pride in producing a fine suit of clothes - but will the seamstress whose occupation is in sewing the buttons onto the sleeves feel the same sense of accomplishment in producing the outcome?
In addition to playing only a small role in the manufacture of a good, workers also have little independence in their roles. The seamstress is not at liberty to attempt to sew the buttons onto the sleeves of one jacket differently than she had done the last one, or the last thousand. She is merely performing the same task as instructed, to match a standard.
Some managers have attempted to overcome this depersonalization of work by lecturing employees to maintain the awareness of their contribution to the output of the firm, and in describing their position in relation to the success of the firm, but this has had very limited success in maintaining morale. Various forms of partnership and profit-sharing have also been tried, and while they provide a financial incentive to work harder, they do not create satisfaction in the work itself.
It is specifically noted that firms that promote people through the ranks should be attentive to the problem of depersonalization: by the time a worker matriculates into a position of management in which they should have a greater sense of personal responsibility, their love of the game has been squelched by years of service in a lesser position.
Second Characteristic: Achieving a Worthy Goal
The basic motivation to undertake an activity is the outcome it achieves, and so it follows that the greater the importance of the outcome, the greater effort an individual will expend to achieve it. Therefore, work that achieves a worthy goal is far more motivational than work that achieves nothing of importance.
Scott traces this motivation to the desire for esteem: a man will undertake great effort and assume high risk to accomplish something grand, because doing so makes him a grand person. His motivation may be extrinsic (being applauded) or intrinsic (feeling self-satisfaction), but the reward of doing important things is the sense that having done so makes him a person of importance.
To be most broadly effective, the result of work must be apparent to the person who performs it. While some men can appreciate their ability to perform an action perfectly, it is in the practical result that they truly acknowledge the excellence of their performance: to swing a golf club perfectly without hitting a ball may "feel" right, but it is only when the ball is hit and the golfer sees how straight and far it flies that he feels certain in his accomplishment.
Other tasks are more abstract, but they are not without their evidence in practice. The author speaks of his own devotion to the topic of industrial psychology - but his reward for his studies is evidenced when his ideas and theories are put into practice and he witnesses their results: an increase in production, a decrease in absenteeism, a greater longevity of employee retention, and the like. It takes time, but he does eventually receive this feedback and feel satisfaction in his work.
Not all men are quite so patient and perceptive, which is the reason not all men feel driven to achieve in abstract fields. Those who need immediate and obvious rewards are drawn to manufacturing or craftsmanship, as the blacksmith, carpenter, and assembly-line worker can see the progress of their work in the visible and tangible objects that result.
Where a workman can appreciate the result of his effort, there is a certain dignity in labor. This dignity is something independent of his monetary recompense - many men are happily employed in low-paying jobs. So long as the wage provides them with the necessities of life, they are happy with their work and seek to go no further.
Third Characteristic: Recognition and Esteem
Individuals who are extrinsically motivated feel the greatest motivation to perform tasks that other people will praise them for doing. In that sense, success is cultural: you can look to any society to see what kinds of behavior it encourages and rewards, and notice many men motivated to achieve those ends.
During the Roman era, glory and reward were bestowed upon military accomplishments; so many men pursue military careers and dreamt of becoming generals. During the Renaissance, glory and reward was granted to artistic accomplishments; so many chose to pursue the arts. During the author's time, glory and reward were bestowed on men of industry; so many pursue careers in manufacturing and commerce.
It is not the other way around: that is, the birth of ten men with great artistic skills will not make a society excel at the arts - society must first value the arts, and men will apply themselves to learning the skills that will win them social approval. A man with great artistic talent who is born into a culture that does not value art will be unrewarded, and will even be ridiculed and shunned, and encouraged to instead develop some skill that society values.
He returns again to his present age, insisting that society grants massive rewards, both financial and esteem, to the capitalist. In spite of "occasional muck rakings" in the press, American society has given the capitalist unusual honor and monetary rewards that are unprecedented in the history of the world - hence men have applied themselves to becoming productive and entrepreneurial.
Esteem and financial success often accompany one another. Where society values the ingenuity of a producer, they purchase his product and reward him not only with esteem but also with money. This may have been true in previous eras, but the connection was less direct: people reward a great artist by admiring his work, not by paying him for it (though he may find a wealthy patron who will reward him).
Many managers prevent their subordinates from enjoying the satisfaction because the manager assumes all responsibility and allows their men no share of it: they are merely hands that work under his instruction, and any achievement is his own and not theirs. Or worse, a manager steals the credit, recognition, and reward from his own men - robbing them of the esteem they have earned immediately and discouraging them from putting in the effort in future, as they expect the esteem will be taken.
To ensure that motivation is supported by esteem, the manager must ensure that his men are paid in kind - they do not merely receive the wage for their efforts, but the recognition they deserve for having undertaken them. Disconnect reward from effort, and the effort will diminish.
He also mentions the loss of personal involvement in work as the result of the specialization of labor - that a person who does only a small part of the labor to produce takes little satisfaction from seeing the finished product. However, Scott reckons it should be possible for his peers to recognize him and make him feel worthy: those who do the same kind of work can respect a colleague's accomplishments more readily and more genuinely.
Education as Motivation
Scott notes that many professional, technical, and vocational skills are instrumental not only in teaching the skills necessary to do a given task, but also in giving nobility and dignity to that task.
(EN: Part of this is intrinsic to the educational process. To motivate students to pay attention to their studies, the instructor must impress upon them the importance of the subject. The opening lecture of any course is "why is it important to study this subject" and the theme is repeated in most lectures. This sense of importance carries over into the workplace, regardless of whether the instructor recognizes it - and I would posit that a great many instructors do not.)
Understanding the importance of work is not necessary to work - and a great many young men set to their first jobs without having any sense of their contribution to society by means of their work: they are in the mode of the purely economic man, doing whatever they are bidden for the sake of earning a wage and failing to see the importance of their duties. As a result, young men are often dissatisfied with their initial profession - and for some, they never gain the broader perspective and are forever dissatisfied with their working life.
Some men enter the workforce with a clear sense of purpose, and recognize immediately the value of their work to society. Others learn this over time, or gravitate to work where they can better recognize the connection between their daily tasks and the benefit they achieve. These men tend to be the most effective and successful in their professions - because they are motivated to do the work, and do it well, but their appreciation of the outcome. It is largely a matter of perspective, and a perspective can be learned.
This perspective follows the three major topics of this chapter: when a man feels personally involved in his work, when he is able to witness the benefit it creates, and when he is socially recognized for doing so, he is happy and motivated in his job.
A successful manager, and a successful firm, recognizes the need to teach their workers not only the skills to do a job, but to feel pride in doing so. Employee orientation and training includes not merely the practical aspects of working, but the importance of work, as a means to encourage a positive attitude.